Thursday, 10 October 2013

Gopsall Temple Geocache

Quite often whilst out Geocaching we are taken to a real gem of a place that we (and most other people) didn’t know existed. Whether it is a circular walk in the countryside or to a place of special interest, Geocaching has given us the opportunity to visit some very special places, brought to us by the owners of the caches. We were out and about geocaching back in June when I spotted a cache located in small woodland located between Twycross and Congerstone in Leicestershire. I quickly read some of the previous logs and it quickly came apparent that this was going to be one of the special places.

Geocaching at Gopsall Temple

We parked the car nearby and had a short walk across fields to the woodland which was beautiful. The Rhododendrons were in flower and the whole woodland had a beautiful untouched feel about it. Not surprising really because it was off the beaten track and people would need to make that little bit of extra effort to visit it.

Gopsall Temple Woodland

We continued our walk towards GZ and as we approached I couldn’t believe what I saw. Bearing in mind this place was not sign posted and not really marked on the map. Gopsall Temple is a Grade II listed building and it is said that George Frederick Handel closeted himself within the temple for 3 weeks during August/September 1741 to write his masterpiece “The Messiah”.

Gopsall Temple

Gopsall Temple is a place of historical importance, set within a beautiful woodland and a place that we probably would not have visited if it wasn’t for Geocaching.